Do S.M.A.R.T. UDMA CRC errors imply that something is wrong with the drive itself and therefore it should be replaced?

AFAIK it indicates data is corrupted between the drive and port, so could be a cable not properly connected or bad cable.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

This doesn't really answer the question, which was: can it be the drive itself?

I think there was a motherboard that had a patch to fix a proble like this. Maybe a Gigabyte..cant remember. also some external UCB drives that have a JMicron controller could corrupt data.

A good way to find out is to note the error counts / SMART data and then put the drive into a different PC with a known good cable, and see if it still has the same behaviour. Until you test something, everything is speculation

OK smartass.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

I think I should clarify that I am not trying to fix any specific problem with cables etc. I just received a hard drive whose S.M.A.R.T. data show CRC errors, and I am trying to figure out if I should return it.

Is this considered to be acceptable language in Netherlands?

OK then.


Maybe.

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As previous answers indicated it may very well not be the drive.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

It depends I guess, on context/circumstances/audience etc..

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

UDMA crc errors can also increase if HDA contacts on pcb are oxidized. Check those contacts, if you see they are dirty clean them by using a soft pencil eraser.
Also, it is possible to get crc errors if you motherboard sata controller is unstable, which may happen due faulty motherboard, power supply damage or due to overclock.

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As much as I appreciate people spending time making suggestions on how to eliminate CRC errors, that was not the question. I have not had any CRC errors on my equipment. I received a hard drive whose S.M.A.R.T. data show that it had UDMA CRC errors in the past. The question is limited to only one issue: is it possible that the drive itself is a problem, as opposed to its pins, motherboard, or cables?

what do you consider 'drive itself'?

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

I would have thought that "UDMA" errors would be related to the SATA interface, not the HDA contacts. If there were a problem at the HDA contacts, the errors would be detected as read errors, not interface errors.

AISI, the question is, where is the CRC generated and calculated? How do these errors differ from those reported by the End-to-End Error attribute?

In any case it would seem to me that, as long as the error is detected, then it must be corrected automatically by retransmitting the data.

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I've seen many drives with just UDMA CRC Errors on smart but with very unstable behavings, which had HDA contacts oxidated.
After cleaning those, drives got stable and UDMA CRC Errors raw value stopped increasing.

I've also seen many drives with a lot of End-to-End Error without notizing any issues, drives where usually very stable.
End-to-End Error should be more straight dealing with sata interface (as bad data cable and/or issues on motherboard) IMHO.

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